Well that "TV" script I was hoping to make for writing Vietnamese didn't really go as planned and as such I started to gather ideas for a new script which would be easy enough to learn but aesthetically be a tier higher than the abomination that is...the modern script.

The basis for this script was the Tai Viet script used to write the various Tai languages (mostly in north-western Vietnam). Despite these facts not only are its origins unknown - it very much resembles the ancient script of the Vietnamese language. Could that script have been related to the ancient Vietnamese's? Either way, the point of this thread is to present an alternative script for modern Vietnamese. [Tân Việt Tự (新越字) = New Vietnamese Script.]

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Letters and their modern Vietnamese equivalents.

At this moment, I've compiled only the consonants. I, personally, did not come up with these characters nor did I with the font - they are various consonants drawn from the Tai Dam script and this particular font was created by Ngô Trung Việt <vietnt@trprog.gov.vn> and James Đỗ <jdo@pacificlinks.org>. Interestingly, many of the Tai languages share very similar sounds to Vietnamese.

My main aim now is to decide how to represent the various vowels and tones. I'm open to any suggestions you may have, in fact I'd be more than happy to have some.

Ok, I'm still stuck with the vowels but here's a sample of one of the alternatives I came up with.

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The consonants are the same as the post above but as you can see I've got the vowels and tone markings. Note that the vowels are inspired by the Latin alphabet.

What now? Well those vowels and tone markings are temporary - now I'll have to go back and redesign and possibly reposition them. Suggestions? I'm also thinking of making separate finals for -c, -ch, -m, -n, -ng, -nh, -p and -t. The Tai Viet script has 2 versions for every consonant ie. there are 6 tones in those languages and so instead of having 5 or 6 different markings, each of the two versions may have either no markings (to represent tones 1 and 4) or one of 2 tone markings (to represent tones 2, 3, 5 and 6). This script, however, only uses 1 version for each consonant at the moment. Another matter is how to separate the syllables.

This is awesome! I have lots of questions about the ancient Vietnamese scripts. The most obvious one is where can I find samples of it?

And as for the script you came up with I would love to see something written in it. Please? Also you're handwriting in Hanzi is perfection. I wish mine was like that. My printing is perfection but Hanzi no way in hell. Any who samples in the pretty scripty please.

Also I know you said that the TV script is "no more" but do you have the chart for it still? I would like to have it in my collection of pretty scripties.

I don't really like the overall look of the ancient script so much, however, I'm sure that had it been in use to this date it would have changed (obviously) and would look completely different. I really don't like the positioning and shapes of the vowels...compared to the consonants they look fugly!

On another note, the symbols seem to resemble that of the Tai-Viet script. The origins of that script are unknown...but could it somehow be related to the ancient vietnamese script? Consider that the Tai-Viet script is mostly used in NW Vietnam and that the cradle of Vietnamese civilisation was just to the east around the Red River delta.

Maybe I should also make another version of my conscript using symbols resembling that of ancient vietnamese instead of the Tai-Viet script. I could have 2 versions!